Warlock Issue 4
Warlock Issue 4 was the first issue published in 1985 and was the fourth of the quarterly instalments of this series of publications. Cover The cover was by Alan Craddock and depicts two Goblins astride a flying Griffin as featured in The Dervish Stone adventure within this issue. Contents "Out of the Pit" This issue contained some new monsters created by Marc Gascoigne that had previously never featured in any of the gamebooks, but all would later appear in Out of the Pit. The monsters detailed were: *Caarth *Death Spider *Strangle Weed *Krell All four were depicted in illustration by Bob Harvey (logo by Tim Sell). ''Warlock'' Profile No.2: An Interview with Iain McCaig This was presented in the form of a cartoon strip, illustrated by Iain McCaig. Tricks and Traps This feature was by Ian Livingstone and was designed to help budding gamesmasters incorporate these items into their homemade adventures. This was illustrated by John Blanche. Additionally there was a competition to design an original trick or trap and include a diagram if at all possible. There was a £20 prize for the winner with five runners-up prizes of £10 each. Entries closed March 15th, 1985. Cartoon Competition Results These were from the competition in Issue 2. Winning Entry: Arkenor the Wizard This was by Ian McDonald for winning the "Cartoon Competition". - p.3}} Arkenor would return in later issues of the magazine in the sketch ''Arkenor and Max. ''How to be an Adventurer (A Short Guide) Of the five runners-up, one was also published. This was by Robert Dene and was a light hearted guide to adventuring. The Warlock's Quill This section had letters from readers published and responded to by the editor. The Grand Wizard of Penguin is often referred to as a "boss" figure. Expanding ''Fighting Fantasy The reason for this area was explained in its introduction: - p.16}} There then followed two articles: 1: The Seasoned Adventurer This article revolved around experience and character improvement in ''Fighting Fantasy. It was by Graeme Davis and there were a number of interesting suggestions, as well as the introduction of the idea of "Legendary Heroes" who would be characters with scores above 12 (for skill or magic). There followed a comments section by Steve Jackson. 2: Magic in Fighting Fantasy This was by Tony Smith. His premise was that a noticeable omission from the Fighting Fantasy rulebook is the use of magic. To keep complexity to a minimum the option to become a magic-user was not the norm in the gamebooks. In this article, Tony Smith describes how GamesMasters may handle magic. ''Fighting Fantasy'' News This gave an update on new and forthcoming Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. New Books The news was that a new book was to be published each month. Talisman of Death (released), Space Assassin, Freeway Fighter, Temple of Terror, Rings of Kether and Seas of Blood were covered. Publications in Other Countries It was noted that the gamebooks were being exported to the countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand) and were being published in: *Denmark *France *Germany *Holland *Israel *Italy *Japan *Norway *Portugal *Sweden *Spain *USA *Yugoslavia Other Books The book of monsters mentioned in the previous issue was mentioned as still not having a final title and readers’ suggestions were invited. A working title of Out of the Pit: The Fighting Fantasy Book of Monsters was given. This would of course become Out of the Pit. Jigsaws The release of the two jigsaws of the book covers of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and The Forest of Doom was advertised. Board Game Games Workshop’s Warlock of Firetop Mountain board game was still under development and was scheduled for a Christmas 1985 release. Citadel Miniatures The imminent release of a set of Fighting Fantasy plastic figures, "to add three-dimensional action to ''Fighting Fantasy battles''" was advertised: *'Heroes' would include: warriors, Knights, Wizards, Barbarians, Elves and Dwarfs. *'Monsters' would include Skeletons, Zombies, Orcs, Ogres and Goblins. ''Fighting Fantasy'' Feedback This was a survey to make sure that Fighting Fantasy would continue to develop according to reader's wishes. Hence a survey of readers' likes and dislikes. No results were ever published in the magazine, although mentioned is made in the editorial of Issue 5 that changes are being made on the basis of reader comments. ''The Dervish Stone'' This was the winning entry of the "Adventure Competition" of Issue 1 by Paul Struth. It came complete with illustrations by Tim Sell, adventure sheet, rules, and background. In terms of fitting into the world of Titan, there were no explicit references to Titan, but neither were there contradictory references and it has generally been accepted that the adventure takes place in a part of the Wastes of Chaos of Khul called the Twin Sun Desert. Cartoon Competition Having had a successful response to the issue 2 "Cartoon Competition" for comic-strip artists (the winning entry and runner-up being featured in this issue), it was decided to run another competition. This time they were looking for a single frame cartoon, in black and white only. It was to be based on an unlikely incident in the world of Fighting Fantasy. The example cartoon is by Alan Langford. Monster Crossword Solution From a competition in the previous issue. Adverts *The colour advert on the inside front cover was for a selection of jigsaws: four 750 piece de luxe fantasy puzzles from Games Workshop and notably two 500 piece de luxe fantasy puzzles from Fighting Fantasy ("The Forest of Doom" by Iain McCaig and "The Warlock of Firetop Mountain" by Peter Andrew Jones). *The back inside cover featured an advert for the complete Sorcery! epic. *The back cover itself was an advert for the first 12 Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. See Also References Category:Warlock Magazine Entries